7 reasons why live, online piano lessons are the best option for you.

Are you thinking about taking piano lessons? If you are an adult learner, you might want to consider taking your piano lessons online!

While relatively new in the piano learning world, online lessons provide some unique benefits and can especially suit adult learners.

In this blog post, I give seven reasons why you may wish to consider online lessons.

REASON #1: You want to learn from the comfort of home

Online lessons are in-home lessons. And there’s a lot to love about that.

Your home is a safe place. Choosing in-home lessons reduces feelings of anxiety, particularly for beginners.

At-home lessons also afford the opportunity to play on your own piano. Many adults find this very appealing as they prefer the familiarity of their practice instrument.

Of course, if you want to have lessons in your home, you need a teacher to come to you.

One option is to call a “travelling teacher”, but they may not exist in your local area. And if they do, they are often high in demand and (rightfully) charge a premium for the convenience (and to cover their costs!).

Taking in-home lesson with a travelling teacher may cause a little bit of stress for some people. You might not feel comfortable having someone intrude your private home each week. If you are houseproud, this can add pressure to the experience.

By choosing online lessons, you get the best of both worlds. Your teacher will provide the lesson in your home, except they can’t see the state of your kitchen or living room.

Online lessons feel much less like an intrusion. It’s the convenience of home lessons without the added stress!

REASON #2: You can’t find a teacher near you

People living in rural or low-density locations can find it tricky to find a piano teacher.

Sometimes there isn’t anyone nearby. Or if there is, that teacher only teaches children. Or their schedule doesn’t allow new students.

If the right teacher lives an hour away, you are looking at a 3-hour roundtrip for each lesson. Most adults don’t have that amount of free time to spend on an evening or afternoon.

There are plenty of excellent teachers all over the world who love teaching adults. But they might not live within travelling distance.

Thanks to the world wide web, distance becomes irrelevant. You have many more options by considering taking your lessons online.

REASON #3: You can’t find the right kind of teacher near you

Say you do find a teacher nearby who has some availability and is happy to take on adult students. What if you don’t click with them?

What if you want to learn ‘for fun’ and they expect an academic attitude.

Or vice versa! You prefer a more rigorous approach, but the local teacher likes to keep lessons casual.

Or you want to learn jazz piano, and your local teacher isn’t trained to teach jazz.

Piano lessons come in a variety of formats. Teachers have different philosophies and approaches. You’re among the lucky few if you find the perfect teacher who also happens to live near!

By going online, you have a much more extensive selection of options available. Online you’ll find teachers specialising in a variety of fields. Performance, classical literature as well as jazz, pop piano and improvisation.

By considering online lessons, you don’t have to settle for a teacher because they live near you. You can interview multiple people. You can try out a few lessons with different teachers to get a feel for their style. And importantly, you can select someone with whom you feel a connection.

REASON #4: You enjoy focused lessons

In my experience, online lessons are typically very focused and productive.

That doesn’t mean in person lessons can’t be of course! But in person, it is so much easier to procrastinate and chat. Before you know it, 15 minutes have gone by of your 60-minute lesson, and you haven’t even touched the piano yet!

I’ve observed that online lessons demand more concentration than in-person lessons. They appear to tickle our brain more and keep us more focused.

Increased focus allows us to be extra-productive!

REASON #5: You don’t have a lot of free time to waste

By taking online lessons, you do not have to drive to a teacher. You open your laptop or tablet and connect with the teacher. It hardly requires any setup time, and costs you a lot less travel time too!

The time savings is what makes online lesson appealing for busy adults.

Online lessons can also relieve your schedule!

Imagine you prefer to take your lessons at 7 am in the morning before heading off to work. Good luck finding a local teacher willing to accommodate that!

But someone in a different time zone might be able to teach you at that time without any problem.

Online lessons make scheduling much easier!

REASON #6 – You are not scared of technology

By now I hope you agree that online lessons are pretty convenient. But some knowledge of modern technology is a need. Luckily you don’t have to be a tech-wiz either!

Ideally, you are familiar with video chat systems such as Skype and Zoom.

You are also aware of your internet connection speeds and capacity. (Hint: if you can watch Netflix without too much trouble, online piano lessons will work a treat!)

You might also have to invest a little time figuring out the best way to set up.

For example, you can place your laptop on a chair or barstool:

You can pop your iPad into an iPad stand:

It is also important that your laptop is not too old and runs smoothly.
Keep your operating software up to date and ensure you have anti-virus installed.

REASON #7 – You want to progress in the best way possible

When we talk about online lessons, this may include video lessons and courses. Or apps and piano learning software.

But taking LIVE online lessons means you have one-on-one time with a professional teacher. The format mimics in-person lessons.

Live lessons provide some significant benefits to your learning journey!
Video lesson and courses generally lack one crucial element in learning: FEEDBACK.

Feedback is particularly relevant for beginners to intermediate players. They do not have the tools and knowledge to overcome the inevitable technical and musical plateaus.

Some more advanced software tools provide feedback on wrong notes or incorrect rhythms. But I’ve yet to see software specify you are holding excessive tension in your shoulders. Or how to shape that phrase, so it doesn’t sound rushed.

Music is vastly complex, and a live teacher can coach you much more effectively than any software or video course ever can.

Let me clarify that there is nothing wrong with combining live lessons with video courses. Particularly for topics such as music theory and ear training online courses can be a godsend. But you cannot replace professional coaching with a computer.

So there you have it – 7 solid reasons to look into live online lessons.

Is there anything I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments below!